19. It may be noted here in passing that, in order to
make it quite impossible that a hostile expedition against England could
be sent out from Antwerp, England arranged at the Conference that the mouths
of the Scheldt were given to Holland, in consequence of which arrangement
no belligerent man-of-war can issue from Antwerp without violating Dutch
territorial rights. text

21. The French writer, Raymond Guyot, says of Prince
Leopold: "He was English by heart and by nationality, tho not by descent,
widower of an English Princess, he was the candidate of the British Cabinet.
For this reason even Russia did not care for him. France had the same repugnance,
and General Sebastiani, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, openly acknowledged
these sentiments. He even went so far as to say one day (on January 8, 1830
to Mr. Gendebein, Envoy of the Provisory Government of Brussels: 'If Leopold
puts one foot into Belgium, we shall fire cannon balls at him."' (Cf.
Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine, Paris, 1901, tome 2, page
592.)

King Leopold's marriage with Princess Louise, by which, instead of a
son, a daughter of Louis-Philippe ascended the Belgian throne, took place
in August, 1832. text

23. In detail, the Twenty-Four Articles which form Annex
A of Protocol 49 (page 414) deal with the following subjects: Art. I, composition
of Belgian territory; Art. II, limits of Belgian territory in the Grand
Duchy of Luxembourg; Art. III, territorial indemnity to Holland in the province
of Limbourg; Art. IV, limits of Dutch territory in the province of Limbourg;
Art. V, necessity of agreement with Germanic Confederation and Nassau; Art.
VI, reciprocal renunciation of territory; Art. VII, Belgium to be an independent
and perpetually neutral kingdom; Art. VIII, drainage of waters of the two
Flanders; Art. IX, navigation of Scheldt and Meuse; Art. X, reciprocal use
of canals; Art. XI, use of commercial roads; Art. XII, new roads or canals
in Belgium; Art. XIII, division of public debt; Art. XIV, Antwerp solely
port of commerce; Art. XV, works of public utility to belong to state in
which they are situated; Art. XVI, sequestrations in Belgium against political
offenders removed; Art. XVII, liberty of transfer of residence; Art. XVIII,
right of "option"; Art. XIX, "sujets mixtes"; Art. XX,
nobody to be molested on account of political conduct during the revolution;
Art. XXI, pensions and allowances; Art. XXII, claims of Belgians against
Dutch private establishments; Art. XXIV, evacuation of territories, etc.,
assigned to the other state. text;appendix A

45. To quote here only a few expert opinions on the
subject: P. Fauchille wrote: "The annexation of the Congo is essentially
incompatible with the neutrality of Belgium" (Revue de droit international
public, 1895). Despaguet declared: "The annexation of the Congo
would be of such nature as to compromise the neutrality of Belgium"
(Revue bleue of June 23, 1894). Other non-German statements
expressing the same opinion may be found in the Revue de droit international
et de législation comparée, serie 2, vol. 7, page 33,
footnote. text

46. The treaty of cession was adopted by the Belgium
Parliament by an act of legislation of October 18, 1908. text

47. The Neutrality of Belgium, in the North American
Review for December, 1914. text

56. The name "Maubeuge" in particular recalls
the following startling revelations of the widely circulated French newspaper,
Gil Blas, in its issue of February 25, 1913:

"A contemporary of Eastern France contains most remarkable disclosures.
In Eastern military circles, it is discussed that the fortress of Maubeuge,
situated near the northeastern frontier of France, close to the railway
line Paris-Cologne, receives, since several weeks, great quantities of English
ammunition. Maubeuge is of the greatest military importance. In the
plan of campaign of the French General Staff, it is the point of concentration
of the allied Anglo-French troops, which, in case of war, will be commanded
by the English General French, under the French Generalissimo Joffre. It
is known that the English cannons do not use the same kind of projectiles
as the French cannons. Therefore, both governments have agreed to lay in
store, already in peace time, on French territory, such quantities of ammunition
as will be necessary for the English artillery." text

57. The official press-communiqué inthe North German Gazette of September 30, 1914, reproduced in the Appendix,
page 217. text

59. Belgian Gray Book, No. 21, which is, evidently,
a somewhat "edited" protocol concerning the oral complaint of
the German Minister to the Belgian Foreign Department. The objection of
the Belgian official quoted therein, viz.: that, since the French hostile
acts complained of had been committed on German soil, they did not concern
Belgium, is quite irrelevant because it does not meet Germany's complaint
that those hostile French acts had been committed under violation of Belgium's
neutrality.

Sworn testimonials to the effect that large bodies of French troops were
actually operating on Belgian territory before the German army invaded Belgium
have, subsequently, been published by the Imperial Government. Three affidavits
of French prisoners of war, containing detailed information to that effect,
are included in the Appendix, pages 230-235. text

60. "The following passage in the Chancellor's
speech of December 2, 1914: "Even then the guilt of the Belgian Government
was apparent from many a sign, although I had not yet any positive documentary
proofs at my disposal." (Appendix, page 227). text

72. Belgian Gray Book, No. 11 where the Belgian Minister
for Foreign Affairs remarks very mysteriously that, on July 31, Sir F. Villiers
transmitted to him that communication from Sir Edward Grey "which he
was desirous of being in a position to place before me since several
days" (qu'il souhaitait être à même de m'exposer
depuis plusieurs jours). text

78. On August 6, 1914, in the House of Commons, the
Prime Minister, Mr. Asquith, declared : "If I am asked what we are
fighting for, I reply in two sentences. In the first place, to fulfil a
solemn international obligation which , if it had been entered into between
private persons, in the ordinary concerns of life, would have been regarded
as an obligation not only of law but of honor which no self-respecting man
could possibly have repudiated. I say, secondly, we are fighting to vindicate
the principle which in these days when force, material force, sometimes
seems to be the dominant influence and factor in the development of mankind,---we
are fighting to vindicate the principle that smaller nationalities are not
to be crushed in defiance of international good faith, by the arbitrary
will of a strong and over-mastering Power." (M. P. Price, The Diplomatic
History of the War, Appendix, page 101.) text

79. The essay, The Essential Points of Belgian Neutrality,
in the New York Times of December 27, 1914. text

80. A number of interesting verdicts of this kind are
contained in the pamphlet England on the Witness Stand, published by The
Fatherland, New York (1915).

Interesting interviews with several prominent Englishmen, including G.
B. Shaw, were published in Collier's for June 12, 1915. text

86. This forecast that England would "forestall
a Belgian appeal for assistance" (ira au devant de l'appel de la
Belgique) is,possibly, something more than a strange coincidence
in thought with the bold assertion of Col. Bridges that England would have
sent her troops to Belgium, even if the latter country should not have asked
for them (page 87). text

87. The Case of Belgium in the Present War, published
for the Belgian Delegates to the United States by the MacMillan Co., 1914,
page 3. text

88. See page 47, where it is clearly set forth that
the Eighteen Articles which style themselves "preliminaries" were
nothing but a draft of a separation treaty between Belgium and Holland which
was flatly repudiated by the latter country. The reason why the Belgian
Delegation has seen fit to give this out as a "treaty" is obviously
this, that those "preliminaries" contained a specific guarantee
of the Powers with regard to Belgium's neutrality, while the treaties of
1839 contain merely a general collective guarantee concerning the provisions
of the Twenty-Four Articles. text

97. The only other exception is that the mutual assurances
for peace and friendship (Art. XXVI of the treaty of November 15, 1831)
were not repeated, which is quite consistent with the international custom
to make such assurances only in the first treaty with a new Power. text

114. To cite here only one example: When, in 1870,
there was raised in the House of Commons the question concerning the validity
of the Treaty of Paris of 1814, by which the House of Bonaparte had been
perpetually excluded from the French throne, the British Under-Secretary
for Foreign Affairs replied that that treaty had to be considered "a
dead letter" (see Hansard, 3d ser., 203, p. 152). Though that treaty
had not been formally abrogated, neither England nor any other signatory
Power considered it binding and enforceable when Napoleon III made himself
Emperor of the French, because those conditions which prevailed when the
Treaty of Paris was concluded had changed. text

142. Concerning the myth of the "strategical railways"
which has been disseminated in neutral countries like so many other myths,
I wish to invite the reader to convince himself by a good railway map whether
the allegations are in any way warranted. There are, in all, four railway
lines crossing the German-Belgian frontier and five more passing from Germany
to Belgium via Luxembourg. But there are not less than 22 between France
and Belgium!

An American railroad man whose sympathies are, evidently, not with Germany,
writes in this respect, in a letter to the Editor of the Evening Sun (published
in its issue of February 12, 1915) the following: "Let us be fair about
the German railways. These were not originally constructed for strategic
purposes, but were built for traffic requirements. The Belgium-Luxembourg
wedge dips into Germany in a southeasterly direction. The main tourist travel
is between Berlin and Paris. To avoid crossing Luxembourg and Belgium would
entail a loss of two hours on express trains. Germany's great iron ore district
is near the Duesseldorf-Essen manufacturing district, and Antwerp and Rotterdam
are the nearest world ports, hence the direct railways across Belgium and
Holland. A railroad man can readily see the advantage of Germany's leasing
the small railroad mileage of Luxembourg main lines as an adjunct to the
greater German system, enabling the latter to standardize track bridges
and signals to conform to its own.... The great importance of the German
railways as a factor in war, as shown by your editorial, was brought about
by a thorough study in the interests of complete industrial development,
the means wherewith to pay. That such railways can be used in war by the
German Government with such consummate efficiency in detail is to its credit."
(Signed) Luis Jackson, Upper Montclair, N. J. text